Stephen Burks | Are You A Hybrid?

Organized by Burks, whose Brooklyn-based design firm Readymade Projects has made cultural fusion its signature, Stephen Burks: Are You A Hybrid? was presented in conjunction with MAD’s acclaimed exhibition, The Global Africa Project, and with Stephen Burks: Man Made at New York’s Studio Museum in Harlem.

The exhibition features works by Stephen Burks and 20 other, mostly contemporary, designers and artists. The majority of the pieces featured in Are You A Hybrid? were contemporary objects and furnishings by such innovative designers as Fernando and Humberto Campana, Hella Jongerius, Jasper Morrison, and Patricia Urquiola. Along with a few historical pieces by Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, Isamu Noguchi, and Charlotte Perriand, mid-century luminaries who pushed beyond industrial aesthetics and drew on folk and foreign cultures, celebrating the handmade in their design work. As well as artworks by Glenn Ligon, Zwelethu Mthethwa, and Chris Ofili, which filter diverse cultural references through the lens of contemporary modernist aesthetics. Finally, several video pieces, including “Made on Earth,” an ongoing documentary project by Burks that features footage from his design collaborations in Haiti, Senegal, and South Africa, played on a loop on several digital monitors hanging on the walls of the gallery amid the art.

As part of the exhibition, Burks will create a large, library-style bookshelf installation and visitor reading area, featuring a selection of reading materials chosen by the designer. These publications served as educational references on the concepts, themes, and issues explored in the exhibition.